Archive for the ‘adrian beltre’ tag

On deadline day for doing arbitration contracts, MLB beat reporter Jamal Collierdid a mailbag. Its been a notable week with more Bryce Harper rumors and the Nats running their payroll right up to the limits of the Luxury tax cap with the Brian Dozier signing.

Here’s the questions he took:

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Q: Harper is on my mind. Spring Training is days away. Aren’t the guys worried about will happen? No way they can be just “whatever,” right? Especially if he ends up in Philly?

A: If they can’t figure out from the slew of Mike Rizzo moves what the team’s intention is with Bryce Harper by now … well maybe a sledgehammer would be more subtle. Its mid January and Rizzo has made 8 moves that should impact the opening day 25-man roster and another 2-3 that may be impactful down the road. He’s now got the payroll north of $190M.

So what if he goes to Philly? I think the whole “don’t trade within the division” is nonsense. Yeah we’ll see him a lot. But its a closed loop; he has to go to one of the 30 teams in the league, and we are bound to see him no matter who he plays for. There’s 30 teams, and only half of them are even frigging trying to win right now, and then halve that again for those who even have payroll room to compete for Harper (or Machado). And Philly is one of them.

As far as “the guys” … are you talking about his team-mates? Well one of two things would be true about his teammates:

They hate his guts and are like, “good riddance.”

They are his fellow union members and want him to get every dollar possible because their union so royally screwed them selves in the last couple of CBA negotiations.

Collier notes that his fellow players know this is “part of the business” that Harper may eventually leave, and that he’s been a national figure since he was 16.

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Q: If Harper re-signed with the Nationals, how would they work the outfield? Would Victor Robles start the season in Minors? Or would they trade Eaton?

A: You’d have to trade Adam Eaton. And you’d be trading low. You can’t move Juan Soto … he’s making MLB Min and could be an MVP candidate. You really shouldn’t move Victor Robles; he’s supposed to be a *better* prospect than Soto, so you’re hoping for 4-5 win performance for (again) MLB min salary. These are the kinds of players you keep when you’re trying to win. Putting Robles in the minors would be an absolute waste, and if that was their plan then i’d advocate attempting to flip him as a centerpiece for a top 20 player in the league (like a Corey Kluber or something).

Collier agrees.

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Q: If Harper returns, how does it change how the team will handle Anthony Rendon negotiations?

A: Hmm. That’s a good question, because despite the fact that Anthony Rendon dropped in the draft over injury questions he’s actually been pretty solid as a pro. I liken Rendon’s reputation and capabilities to Adrian Beltre; fantastic defender, sneaky good at the plate, and suddenly you look up and he’s put up a hall of fame career.

Will that translate into a $200m salary? Probably not. But Rendon is no dummy, and neither is his agent Scott Boras.

That being said … can the Nats do this whole “stars and scrubs” thing for ever? If you have 5-6 guys on high 8-figure salaries (Scherzer, Strasburg, Corbin, Harper, Rendon) can you put a good enough team behind them?

I personally think Rendon is an incredibly important player for this team, even if he isn’t that high a profile. And because he’s not high profile, I think you can get him for $20M/year or something like that on a longer term deal, which would be a steal value-wise. I hope committing money to Harper doesn’t close the door on a Rendon negotiation.

Collier says …. he has no idea, nor does Rizzo.

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Q: How should we look at 2019 Dozier replacing ’18 Daniel Murphy? Both are above-average offensive second baseman with liability at fielding. Is this an upgrade, downgrade or equal move?

A: Absolutely an upgrade; Daniel Murphy had negative bWAR last year while even playing through injury Brian Dozier contributed. If Dozier is healthy and performs at his 2015-2016 level again … watch out this is one of the steal signings of the off-season.

Collier basically agrees and gives good contextual numbers.

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Q: Do you think Washington will add a starter? If it does, I think Wade Miley is fine.

A: I think they will … but not a guy to replace Joe Ross in the rotation. I think they’ll be looking for MLFAs with 5/1 or 6/1 buy-outs, like Edwin Jackson or Tommy Milone signings last year. I can’t see them breaking the luxury tax for a 5th starter.

Collier agrees, remembering that the team has already signed Henderson Alvarez for just such reasons.

I’ll do a Playoffs prediction piece once tonight’s WC game is settled; no point in speculating until we know who the Dodgers are facing.

Q: Is any contract extension for Dusty contingent on getting the team past the first round?

A: I wouldn’t think so, honestly. I think Dusty Baker has done an excellent job with this team, turning it around starkly from the Matt Williams regime. Yes its curious that he hasn’t been extended … but then again, the inevitable extension for Mike Rizzo seemed to be a little late coming too. Maybe this team has told him privately that they’ll get it done this off-season and just focus on winning for the time being.

Janes has reported several times that everyone plans on Baker being back, that Rizzo wanted to do it in ST but ownership did not, and that’s the Nationals MO.

Q: Is Stephen Strasburg going to start Game 1?

A: As of the point of this writing, it definitely seems like it. This gives Max Scherzer one more day to recover, and gives the team the choice of selecting either guy for Game 5 thanks to multiple off-days in the playoff schedule. I’d be up for this scenario honestly; Scherzer may be the Ace but Strasburg has been the best pitcher in the last two months.

Janes does not know but pointed out Strasburg’s unbelievable numbers since returning from the D/L in August. He definitely merits a 2-game NLDS if it comes to it.

Q: Chances Anthony Rendon gets an extension this off season?

A: Hmm. Good question. Rendon is going to be due a sizeable arbitration raise this off-season and still has another Arb year, so I could see the team doing a 2-year deal now to avoid the arguing. Perhaps 2yrs/$25M or something (with salaries of $10 and $15M?). I’d take that for cost certainty for a guy who doesn’t get near the credit he’s due but is putting up MVP numbers. As far as longer-term extension? I dunno; is Rendon a lifer in Washington? What will it take to sign him long term? In this respect, his under-ratedness works to the team’s benefit. I see him kind of in the Adrian Beltre mold; good defensive player, not as flashy, solid offensive contributions. Beltre is getting $18M per right now and just finished a 5yr/$80M deal before that, so that’s a good benchmark. Maybe Rendon can be had for something like a 5yr/$90M deal which would take him through his age-32 year, so we’d get his best years but he’d get another shot at the FA market at 32.

Janes agrees with my assertion that they’ll likely buy out his Arb years, but notes that he’s a Scott Boras client and likely hits FA. Fair point. But our read on Rendon is not the hyper-aggressive big character/ego guy, so maybe in the asme vein as Strasburg (also Boras client) he’ll sign an extension to stay comfortable. He’s also a Houston guy born and bred (HS and college) and would make a ton of sense heading back there. Houston has a log-jam of good infielders right now … but a lot can change in a couple years.

Q: Would you start Jayson Werth or Adam Lind in LF for playoffs Game 1?

A: Werth absolutely. Especially since Jon Lester is likely to go Game 1. Maybe you could get more clever in games 2-4 when RHP starters go for Chicago… but I still doubt it. Unless Werth is hurt, he’s your starting LF. And if he was hurt … i’m not sure I’d go with Lind out there in lieu of Howie Kendrick honestly, given the defensive liabilities.

Janes agrees, thinks it would take an injury to get someone besides Werth out there, and points out that Werth was a rock in the playoffs last year.

Q: How worried should we be about the recent performances of Gio Gonzalez and Tanner Roark?

A: Slightly worried, but not overly so. The Nats have really had so little to play for for weeks that its possible that these guys just mentally relaxed enough to have bad games, especially in the season finale (which was emotional for it being Werth’s likely final regular season game in a Nats uniform).

Janes thinks Gio was a bit under the weather, and that Roark admitted to not being totally focused during the grind of the final week.

Q: Will Victor Robles make the major league roster out of spring training in 2018?

A: Oh, that’s a good question. Something tells me he will not for several reasons:

Adam Eaton will be back and starting in CF

Harper is in RF

The team still has Taylor, Goodwin and Stevenson all in the mix, all pre-arb, all with more service time than Robles

We still could buy ourselves a bigger bat to play LF and have these guys all jockeying to be the 4th OF.

We still could see a trade in the off-season, flipping some of this sudden OF depth (along with Wilmer Difo) for the answer.

Robles needs to be playing every day, not sitting on the MLB bench, and makes sense to be in AAA against near-MLB quality guys

Robles needs, in the same vein as Trea Turner, to have his service time managed a little bit.

Now, I could be wrong, and the team could find itself in a dogfight early in Harper’s last season. They could get hit with injuries again and he’d be right back up. But to start, i’d have him in AAA.

Janes repeats practically everything I wrote.

Q: Who will be the last man on the bench? What will the bullpen look like? Will Robles make the playoff roster?

A: I think …. if it were me i’d put Robles on the roster. But Mr, Baker probably wants a more veteran player, so don’t be surprised if the kid is left off in lieu of some .200 hitting last man. We’ll see.

We talked about this in the last post so we won’t do it again, and Janes posted a whole 2,000 word article on it … so we’ll defer to those discussions.

Espinosa’s prolific strike-out rate drives down his OPS+ figure. Otherwise, he’s basically a small step down from Cabrera’s performance on the season. But we’re not exactly talking about world-changing offense from Cabrera at the plate: a .229 BA with a bit of power.

Here’s some more quickie stats that will illuminate things. Lets talk about their defense. If we’re saying that Cabrera was a superior defender, here’s the 2B-only defensive stats for both players (UZR/150 and total Zone via fangraphs, DRS via either site, FRAA via baseballprospectus.com):

Player

UZR/150 at 2B

DRS at 2B

FRAA at 2B

Cabrera

-5.3

-10

-2.2

Espinosa

4

-1

0.1

So, across the board Espinosa statistically was a better defender than Cabrera. You can make the argument that Cabrera was playing out of position; I can make the argument that Espinosa’s full-season stats have been even better than this (he is an elite defender year over year).

Lastly; contract status:

Player

2014 Salary

2015 contract status

Cabrera

$10M

Free Agent, 10-12M/yr projected

Espinosa

$540k

1st year of Arb, $1.5M projected

I dunno. If someone said that the team should go out of its way to ensure they have a switch-hitting, slick fielding second baseman who can hit .220 … I’d say to you, “we already have him.” And he’s pretty cheap. And under team control for 3 more years, for a combined salary that’ll be less than one year Cabrera will fetch on the open market.

In reality, with a weak SS free agent market, Cabrera is going to get over-paid by someone to go back to short, despite his saying publicly that he likes Washington and wants to stay, so maybe this is all moot. I’m not necessarily saying that Espinosa is the solution at 2B either: I think the team has found its Jamie Carroll for the next 3 years; a guy who can play either middle-infield position off the bench who switch hits. I’ve seen rumors that the Nats will go shopping on the FA market: of course, the available player list isn’t exactly inspiring. I’ve seen other rumors that the Nats will work the trade market; that’s impossible to project or guess, but Texas’ glut of middle infielders does present an opportunity (they have Elvis Andrus ensconsed at short, Rougned Odor at second, but have uber-prospect Jurickson Profar ready to play as soon as he’s healthy). Oh, they also have a huge corner infield problem coming too, with Adrian Beltre and PrinceFielder under contract for years to come but minor-league homer leading 3B Joey Gallo not really needing to prove much at AA any longer. I like the trade matchup (NL East to AL West) but can the GMs come to an agreement on something?

Or maybe just maybe Espinosa gets talked into giving up hitting lefty (career slash line: .271/.343/.460 for a career .804 OPS figure, which by way of comparison is slightly better than the OPS figure that MVP candidate Josh Donaldson put up in 2014.

Yeah, I’d take that out of my #8 hitter, while putting up good defense at 2nd and proving injury-coverage at short.

(Standard disclaimer; this is ranting about my fake baseball team. If you don’t play fantasy, might as well skip this).

I’m really beginning to question my abilities in fantasy sports. Despite being deep into baseball and knowing random things off the top of my head that should be of use in fantasy (which managers are more inclined to do closer by committee, which ball parks are skewed offensively and thus players who play there may be at an advantage), I struggle year after year.

This year, thanks to an unfortunately timed meltdown (I lost a week 0-10-2 after having been ahead early in the week), I dropped just out of the playoff spots in my league (top 6 make the playoffs out of a 12 team league). But the ills of my team were seen early. Once again, I was plagued by under performing players and a poor draft that left me churning the waiver wire. By the end of the season I had made 58 of the 65 allotted moves in a failed attempt to improve enough to sneak into the playoffs (where honestly, I would have been a tough out; I can grind out 6-5-1 wins with the best of them).

So, what happened? Here’s a link to the post talking about my initially drafted team. And here’s a matrix of my 21 initially drafted players, their performance on the year and a note indicating whether or not they over- or under-achieved (bold means on the team at year’s end, red = badly under performed, green = greatly over-performed).

Player

round Drafted/# Drafted overall

Yahoo o-rank 2013

Yahoo O-rank 2014

ADP at time of draft

2014 Perf Rank

Adam Jones-OF

1st round (#10 overall)

7

13

10th/11.4

21

Adrian Beltre-3B

2nd round (#15)

15

12

13th/13.2

46

Alex Rios-OF

3rd round (#34)

25

44

34th/35

179

Giancarlo Stanton-OF

4th round (#39)

222

26

24th/27.8

5

Kenly Janssen-RP

5th round (#58)

52

48

49th/53.2

102

Greg Holland-RP

6th round (#63)

36

63

62nd/62

60

Mark Trumbo-1B/OF

7th round (#82)

66

78

53rd/56.0

944

Carlos Santana-C/1B

8th round (#87)

134

87

69th/74.0

159

Shelby Miller-SP

9th round (#106)

76

88

110th/113.0

485

Hyung-Jin Ryu-SP

10th round (#111)

85

101

124th/127.2

95

Aaron Hill-2B

11th round (#130)

402

111

124th/115.8

364

Danny Salazar-SP

12th round (#135)

336

96

154th/150.4

355

Tony Cingrani-SP

13th round (#154)

152

133

156th/156.8

941

Jim Henderson-RP

14th round (#159)

130

155

170th/175.0

750

Shane Victorino-OF

15th round (#178)

67

113

125th/129.0

1144

Chris Archer-SP

16th round (#183)

175

171

208th/209.0

314

Asdrubal Cabrera-SS

17th round (#202)

267

151

171st/177.4

177

J.J. Hoover-RP

18th round (#207)

237

629

344th

922

Tim Hudson-SP

19th round (#226)

299

300

311th

171

Brandon Belt-1B

20th round (#231)

106

104

142th

988

Jake Odorizzi-SP

21st round (#250)

548

358

445th

197

So, what happened?

My first two picks didn’t underperform “badly,” but were not the super stars you need to take hold of a league. I didn’t really like Adam Jones or Adrian Beltre at the draft, and despite some hot streaks they’ve been disappointments. Beltre got hurt in camp and missed games at the beginning of the season. My #3 pick Alex Rios I finally gave up on and waived; his seasonal rank of 179 belies what he’s done the last two months (closer to the 900 ranked range). It’s never a good sign when your #3 pick gets waived thanks to performance (and not injury) reasons.

Giancarlo Stanton is my one major “win” out of the draft; a 4th round pick who likely will finish in the top 5 of stats on the season. At the time of this writing, he was trailing only Mike Trout in terms of fantasy rankings for offensive players. He single-handedly carried my team offensively for weeks on end and is a large reason that my team offense was 1st in homers and 3rd in RBI. I feel vindicated here: I suffered through at least two injury-riddled Stanton seasons in the past after having drafted him highly, and he’ll have the same issue next year; he’ll likely be a top-5 pick with a huge injury risk on his head.

My two big-time closers did not disappoint: both Janssen and Holland performed as expected and led me to be 5th in team saves and have a 14-7-1 record in the category on the year. This is a big lesson learned for me; you can get by with just two big-time closers and be successful in this category. Of course, I wanted more closers but got unlucky; my #3 closer Jim Henderson suddenly and without warning was yanked from the role on opening day. Another team vultured his replacement (Francisco “K-rod” Rodriguez); all he’s done is pitch lights out all year and is 6th in the league in saves. That should have been my 3rd closer. That was a disappointment. I tried just one waiver-wire closer grab (Chad Qualls for Houston) and despite picking correctly, Qualls went weeks without save opportunities so I dumped him after two weeks looking for more starter quality.

Lets talk about the god-awful positional player issues I had in the draft: Mark Trumbo started out white-hot, fractured his foot and missed months. Aaron Hill did not come closer to living up to the hype of fantasy analysts. Shane Victorino was on and off the D/L all year. And poor Brandon Belt fractured his thumb, fought his way back and then got hit in the head during BP and still remains on the concussion D/L.

Of the Starting Pitchers I gambled on: Shelby Miller struggled all year, Danny Salazar got demoted, as did Tony Cingrani. Chris Archer did not produce at fantasy levels and Jake Odorizzi struggled early and was dropped (I eventually picked him back up). I only kept two drafted starters on the team all year (Ryu and Hudson) and frankly Hudson was so bad for so long that I came pretty close to dumping him. That basically means that my “wait on starters” strategy was a complete failure, if I’m only keeping ONE decent starter the whole year.

So, for the 2nd straight year I cycled the waiver wires. Here’s some of the guys I went through:

Scheppers I took a gamble on b/c his numbers were so good as a reliever; mistake. He got shelled opening day and soon was on the D/L. A number of these pitchers were decent moves and pitched well for a while (especially Josh Beckett and Marcus Strohman). The biggest failure here was dumping Corey Kluber after he got hit hard opening day: He’s turned into the 16th best fantasy performer all year, a 2nd round talent. That was a huge mistake. I liked Eovaldi‘s peripherals (lots of Ks) but he struggled with runners and his ERA/WHIP were inflated all year. Skaggs got hurt, Kennedy was ineffective. I got great value for a while out of Keuchel, but after a good mid-summer he tailed off badly. Garcia made like one start before returning to the D/L. Josh Beckett was a great waiver wire pickup for a while, but he too got hurt and remains on the D/L today. Alex Wood was a great find. I snaked Gerrit Cole off the D/L just before he came back on but he contributed little. Most of my other experiments were far too inconsistent week-to-week to trust (see Trevor Bauer, Despaigne, Mike Leake, etc).

As mentioned before, I only tried to gamble on one closer waiver wire pickup thanks to the solid two starters that I had from draft day. Most of the available closers on the waiver wire were in committee situations and couldn’t be trusted anyway.

I worked 1B, 2B, and 3B hard. At one point I was trying to engineer a 3B trade, having Seager while he was hot and Arenado after he came off the D/L. But my potential trade partners badly low-balled me for Beltre (offering guys who were worth far less than Beltre was) and suddenly Seager dropped off a cliff, making his trade value useless. Eventually I dumped both.

1B pickups Napoli, Duda and especially Carter turned out to be huge winners. Once again proving my point that some positions are just so deep they’re not worth drafting. Same with outfielders to a certain extent; I had Ozuna all year and he’s turned out to be well worth it.

My season’s end Fantasy team after all this waiver wire churning. Bold are original, red are waiver wire:

You only need two big-time closers to compete. Spend draft picks in the 5th and 6th rounds, try to get a third closer later on and you’ll do fine. You must do a better job on the waiver wire though trying to grab closers if you want them.

There’s always 1B talent on waivers. Do not over-spend on 1B.

My strategy of over-loading on mediocre starters just doesn’t seem to be working. I was 3rd in wins and 5th in Ks, but 8th in ERA, dead last in losses and 11th in whip. Meanwhile the #1 team this year went with an uber-pitching strategy (over-drafting starters and ending up with Kershaw, Sale, Felix Hernandez as well as several top closers) and he just dominated pitching. Despite having a ton of starters, he managed to be 4th in Wins AND be 2nd in Whip. I think he’s got a good strategy. And i’m sure people will try to emulate it next year.

Do not sweat churning and burning waiver wire picks early on; you may just end up with a monster surprise player on the year. This was the 1st place team’s strategy and it netted him Charlie Blackmon and a couple of extra closers. Two of the top 10 starters on the year were waiver wire guys: CoreyKluber and Garrett Richard.

Do not hesitate grabbing big-name call-ups. I missed out on more than a couple guys that I would have grabbed but hesitated. This cost me last year with Yasiel Puig and it cost me this year with Jorge Soler and George Springer. I waited, and I missed out.

As with years past … feel free to skip this post if you don’t care about fantasy. I know for certain that reading about someone elses’s fantasy sports team can be a bit grating. But, if you do play fantasy i’m sure you’ll at least appreciate reading the selections and then looking at the team’s strength analysis at the end.

I usually don’t do post-season award analysis until, well, the post-season. But this year the MVP races seem like they could end up being really interesting. So lets take a look at who’s in the hunt.

The MVP candidates year in and year out generally are chosen by the voters using these criterion (fair or not):

Best player on the Best teams

Outstanding performances from players on non-playoff teams.

Generally position players, except in a year when no position player really stands out.

East Coast Bias.

I’m not going to get into an argument about whether the “MVP” means the “best player” or “most valuable” here. I’ll leave that to the multitude of other people who can’t get over this distinction. For me, the “MVP” still is a subjective award not entirely driven by the guy with the best WAR on the season. There are plenty who cannot get over the fact that Mike Trout had s uch a fantastic statistical season last year and didn’t win the MVP. Not me; I don’t see how you can be the “MVP” of a league when your team finishes 20 games out of first.

The NL playoff picture seems mostly set; the two wild card leaders have a decent lead on Arizona that seems, well not insurmountable but surprisingly strong. The AL picture is a bit more unsettled; lots can still happen in the AL East, and there’s three teams within 4.5 games of the wild card right now (Cleveland, Baltimore and Kansas City). And that’s to say nothing of the Yankees, who are in the hunt but seem more of a sideshow these days than a contender.

So, using these guidelines, lets look at the leading players that are likely to be in the MVP race. All stats are as of 8/10/13. Per team, lets look at the “leading” player both statistically and “honorarily.”

Lets start with the NL:

Atlanta: Andrelton Simmons leads the team in bWAR, with almost all of it coming on the defensive side of the ball. He’s hitting .243 and your voter base just doesn’t have an appreciation for defensive exploits just quite yet. Justin Upton started out scorching hot and still has great stats on the year, but has cooled so significantly that I don’t believe Atlanta has an MVP candidate. They have 4-5 really solid hitters and solid pitching driving them to their divisional title.

Pittsburgh: it begins and ends with Andrew McCutchen, a serious leader for the award right now. He’s tied for the league lead in bWAR and is having an outstanding season. Starling Marte has broken out this year but nobody denies that this is McCutchen’s team. Pedro Alvarez leads the NL in homers but is otherwise good, but not great, in other offensive statistics.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Yasiel Puig leads the team’s hitters in bWAR while taking the league by storm, but he’s only slightly ahead of Hanley Ramirez, who is having a relatively quiet break through season. But neither guy has played in half the team’s games, leaving a lot of pundits to call for Clayton Kershaw, who is tied with McCutchen for the NL lead in bWAR to get MVP votes. While I don’t advocate this scenario, it would not surprise me to see Kershaw win the Cy Young and get a top-5 MVP finish.

St Louis: Yadier Molina continues to be the transcendent catcher in the NL and is the “spiritual leader” of the Cardinals, but he has gone down with injury and may be losing MVP steam. He no longer even leads his own team in bWAR (Matt Carpenter does), but remains a good candidate.

Cincinnati: the obvious candidate here is Joey Votto, But something seems like Cincinnati’s scuffling as of late combined with the flashier candidates out there will lead to Votto getting votes but not the award.

Other NL Candidates to consider:

Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt is in the top-10 in league bWAR for the Diamondbacks, but unless this team makes a huge run to the playoffs he’s merely going to be a top-10 vote getter.

Milwaukee’s Carlos Gomez is tied for the league lead in bWAR, but his streakiness and his team’s place in the standings is going to make it tough for him to get anything other than a top 10 finish.

New York‘s David Wright is also putting together a great season, sitting in the top 10 in league bWAR almost entirely on the back of his bat (surprising given his prowness at third). As with Gomez, the Mets position in the standings hurts him badly. And his recent D/L trip (which seems like it may end his season) ends his chances.

Over in the American league, the playoff situation may be murky, but the MVP race is pretty straight-forward. There is a lot to shake out in terms of the playoff positions and the candidates from those teams don’t seem to stand out as much. But as with 2012, there are two leading MVP candidates and we seem set to have the same arguments this year as last. But lets go team by team:

Boston is being led by their two best players, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia. They are both top-10 in bWAR and are having excellent seasons. Voters likely won’t be able to tell between them and they’ll split the vote with both guys getting top-10 MVP seasons.

Detroit: Is there any question? Miguel Cabrera, who despite negative defensive bWAR is leading the AL. Max Scherzer will get serious Cy Young consideration but not MVP votes, not with Cabrera and other candidates.

Oakland: Jody Donaldson has become the latest “who is that?” player that Oakland has found to drive them to a pennant in a division they have no business competing in. But east-coast bias and lack of star-power will work against him.

Tampa Bay: It has to be Evan Longoria, once again, the face of the franchise. But as with year’s past, he’s toiling in relative obscurity in front of half the fans that should be supporting a team this good. And a lot of credit will go towards Wil Myers‘ call-up, taking away Longoria votes.

Texas: the story of Adrian Beltre‘s career; he’s a darn good player and nobody gives him enough credit. Texas has shed many of its name players over the past few seasons, but Beltre continues to provide great value on both sides of the ball. The transcendant player on Texas this year is Yu Darvish, who will struggle in the Cy Young race (subject of anohter post).

Other AL Candidates to consider:

Baltimore may very well sneak into a WC slot as they did last year, entirely on the backs of two guys. Chris Davis is having a great power season while Manny Machado is having a historic 20-year old season in general. Both guys have top-10 bWAR seasons and, as with the Boston guys, may split votes here. Machado in particular looks like he’s already put himself in the “Trout-Harper” discussion for most transcendent young player in the game.

Los Angeles Angels: Here we go again. Mike Trout has put “sophomore slump” naysayers to shame, posting as good or better numbers across the board in 2013. Interestingly, Trout’s defensive component in 2013 is significantly hurting him whereas in 2012 it gave him a huge boost; his defensive component in bWAR is actually *negative* for 2013. A topic for another day, the ridiculous swings we see in defensive advanced stats. In any case, as with 2012 I think Trout’s team’s underperforming will hurt him and he will lose out again. It is what it is.

My opinion of the AL voting right now: Cabrera, Trout, and then I have no idea. Right now I’d probably go Machado, Ellsbury and Davis.

There’s still a lot of season to go, so lots could still happen. But I’m putting early markers on McCutchen and Cabrera. Both well deserved.

I was out all last week, hence the radio silence here. I couldn’t help posting yesterday though about the Nats blowing another excellent start. So lets get back into the swing of things with another episode of Tom Boswell‘s weekly chats, this one for 5/13/13. As always I write my response here before reading his, and sometimes edit questions for clarity.

Q: With the technology we have today, do we really need umpires anymore?

A: You know, the answer is probably “Yes, we could replace Umps with robots” and have a better product on the field … but the implementation details seem so difficult that I doubt it ever really fully happens. You have to have real people on the field to deal with all the randomness that occurs in baseball games. I think the best eventual solution will be to have challenge systems put in place like we have with Football, only hopefully done much much faster. Sort of like the NHL’s New York-office based replay officials. The strike zone issues we’re seeing lately though are troubling; can you automate a strike zone call with players who move and bend over in mid-swing? How do you establish a strike zone for these guys? Inside and outside are no problem, but up/down is tough. Boswell supports robot strike zones.

Q: If Harper had been just a normal everyday player, coming up through the system, would that swing of his — namely the left foot coming up and the seemingly wild attack at the ball — have been beaten out of him by now by the coaches?

A: Not necessarily. But if Bryce Harper had been a “normal” prospect instead of an uber-prospect then I think he would have had adjustments pushed onto him. There have been successful players with that trailing foot off the ground; Frank Thomas and Roberto Clemente come to mind. I always have a pet peeve personally when I see a hitter who lifts his back leg; I have the same issue in my own swing and was told by a high school coach that it was a flaw. Well, I don’t think guys like Clemente and Thomas were flawed hitters. I think it is what it is; if you feel comfortable hitting off your front foot and are successful, then so be it. Boswell notes Clemente and a few others who have this trait, and agrees with me that it’s an overstated issue.

Q: Is this the breakout season for Jordan Zimmermann? Is it the changeup? I’ve never seen him look so in control out there.

A: Can it be as simple as Jordan Zimmermann has finally fully recovered from Tommy John surgery? Fangraphs shows pretty consistent frequencies and speeds of his pitches from last year to this year. One thing that jumps out for me right now is his very low BABIP (.209 so far this year). That smells like some regression. So while he can’t sustain his ridiculous numbers (1.59 ERA through 7 starts), he does seem to be on track for a very good season. Cy Young capable? With his current W/L streak and peripherals, he may pitch his way into the conversation. Boswell notes that Zimmermann would have been in top 10 of league ERA last year with a few more IP, and that poor run support has cost him wins for years … so this all likely is Zimmermann finally getting the full package.

Q: How concerned are the Nats about Zimmerman’s shoulder?

A: Can’t speak for the team, but is anyone happy with Ryan Zimmerman‘s throwing issues right now? Nothing has changed from what I wrote in Mid-April about the situation. And I don’t know what the team is going to do with him. Jon Heymanquoted an anonymous competing Front Office executive after Zimmerman signed his big deal that the Nationals “now have two $100M contracts but no $100M players.” It pissed me off at the time … but is really hard to argue against now. Will these contracts hamper this team’s development and/or ability to sign all its players in a few years time? We’ll see. Boswell mirrors what i’ve written before; the team has no place to put Zimmerman and they have to just ride it out.

Q: Drew Storen looks like a different pitcher this year. ERA is up to 4.73, and for the first year since his debut I’m nervous when he takes the mound. What gives?

A: A great question. Others here have predicted that Drew Storen may be demoted this season due to performance. His blowing of the Gonzalez gem was just one more nail in his coffin. But a look at the stats shows that he’s basically been unlucky so far this year. Most of his peripherals are improved in 2013 over last year; his K/9 is up, BB/9 is down. His BABIP is incredibly high right now (.370). Despite an ugly ERA his fip/xfip numbers are normal and low. His velocity is a tick lower this year but not appreciably so. I think he’s just been unlucky and will improve with more innings as he regresses downwards to the expected mean. The one thing stats can’t measure though is his mentality; is he “depressed” because he’s not the closer? Any way you spin it, the acquisition of Rafael Soriano represented a “demotion” for Storen, and it comes on the back of a pretty demoralizing NLCS game 5 meltdown last year where Storen single handedly lost the series for a team that most thought was the best in the game. Boswell says his stuff is still “plenty good” but that he’s screwing around with too many pitches in his outings, relying on his sinker too much. He needs to just go after hitters. I agree; young guys have a tendency to nibble and work backwards if they’re too clever (see Bauer, Trevor) and need to listen to their pitching coaches.

Q: When errors occur or a bad call is made, Strasburg appears to have a difficult time making the necessary pitches to get out of an inning. Is this just an example of him being 24 and still learning or is there a bigger long term issue?

A: Great question again (lots of good ones here). We’ve all played behind pitchers who lost their composure when a simple error occurs behind them (in adult leagues, this pretty much happens on every other ground ball, so you have to learn to go with it). Stephen Strasburg‘s mental breakdown after Zimmerman’s latest throwing error, leading to 4 unearned runs and a loss in a game where I thought perhaps he had no-hitter stuff, was really disappointing. Is it him being young and immature? Could be, though I have never gotten the impression that Strasburg ran on the immature side. How can you, when you have so much career hype? But the evidence speaks for itself; when your manager and your catcher call you out in the press for losing your composure, you have some work to do. Boswell posted a fantastic stat; 15% of Strasburg’s career runs allowed were unearned, twice what Justin Verlander has allowed in his career. That’s incredibly telling. Strasburg needs to work on his mental approach after bad things happen behind him.

Q: So Bryce has cooled off some, but what concerns me more is that even when he was scalding hot, he was hitting LHP. Should we be concerned? His OPS against LHP is .502.

A: I’m not concerned about Harper’s Lefty split, since nearly every left-handed batter in the game has a bad lefty split. He looked downright awful against lefties in 2012 (highlighted by his 5-K game against Andy Pettitte and the Yankees), but has made adjustments. Now it seems that the league has re-adjusted, so Harper needs to re-adjust. So far in his young career, Harper has shown how well he adjusts (he’s years above his age in this regard), so I have confidence he’ll be ok. Boswell prints some great numbers so far for Harper and says he’ll be ok.

Q: I recently read two articles that said that sabermetics considers a strikout to be no better or worse than any other out. This fact does not seem to make sense because missing the ball completely with two strikes eliminates any chance for productive outs, for foul balls leading to another chance, or reaching base due to normal batting average on balls in play. Also, psychologically, a strikeout has to be more deflating to the individual and team than another out. Thoughts?

A: There’s a weird dichotomy in sabremetrics in this regard: batter K’s are “not that bad” but Pitcher K’s are what everyone strives for. Doesn’t this seem at odds with itself? The only reason I can think that a K is “ok” if you’re going to make an out is if it somehow prevents a double play. But this is a research-worthy topic. I also heard a great stat on a podcast; 3 players struck out 40 or more times in April of this year (if memory serves it was Jay Bruce, Chris Carter, and Mike Napoli). Joe DiMaggio didn’t strike out 40 times in a season his whole career. The league is just different now. Boswell doesn’t really say much on the question other than the DP angle.

Q: Yesterday’s game was as strong an argument as I could make for the National League to use the Designated Hitter. Gio should have been allowed to finish the game with his low pitch count and excellent throwing, but he was pulled for a batter (who did nothing). Forget tradition! If we had the DH, we could have kept Michael Morse! And we probably would have won yesterday.

Q: Is Zim still among to the top 5 or top 10 3rd baseman in the majors in your opinion?

A: Interesting question. A quick glance at the Third Basemen on depth charts around the league leads to this list of players who I would take right now over Zimmerman: Miguel Cabrera, Evan Longoria, Adrian Beltre, David Wright, and maybe even Chase Headley or David Frese. Now counting contract status/potential at this point given Zimmerman’s money owed and his declining performance on both sides of the ball, I’d think hard about Manny Machado, Bret Lawrie, Todd Frazier, Nolan Arenado, Pedro Alvarez and Pablo Sandoval. Of course, potential is potential and Zimmerman already has a long list of accomplishments in this game, so on the whole of his career i’d put him just behind Wright in the above list. So yeah I think its safe to say he’s a top 5 third baseman right now. Ironically in my Yahoo Fantasy list, he’s also #5 and listed exactly behind the four guys in that upper grouping, in that exact order. Boswell says no, not defensively. But i’m not sure that’s entirely how you judge players these days. Cabrera isn’t exactly a gold glover at third but would anyone say he’s not the “Best Third Baseman” in the game?

Q: No doubt that Jayson Werth is a phenomenal locker room presence and his home run in the playoffs last year was one of the highlights of the year, but he missed half the season last year and is on the DL now. He turns 34 next Monday and the Nats have him on contract for 4 more years. What do you think they can legitimately expect from him?

A: I think you expect Jayson Werth to contribute in the same ways he did in 2012; around a 125 OPS+ with some power and a lot of OBP. Eventually he moves to left field, where he should be a excellent defender in the latter years of his contract. It is what it is: the Nats paid him for his four years of unbelievable offense in Philadelphia, and he’ll be lucky to get back to that level in his mid 30s. Boswell agrees.

Q: Is Denard Span the best centerfielder we’ve had since Clyde Milan? I don’t recall seeing a smoother Washington centerfielder.

A: Easily the best “all around” player to play center since the team moved here. I’d probably argue that Rick Ankiel was better defensively and clearly had a better arm, but Denard Span‘s consistency at the plate gives him the easy nod overall. Can’t speak to years prior to 2005. Boswell agrees and signs off.

Denard Span's "best of 2012" defensive catch, highlighting more of what we can expect in 2013. Photo NYpost.com

I wasn’t expecting much baseball talk in Ask Boswell this week (12/10/12), not with the Redskins on a 4-game winning streak. But there were some significant baseball moves to discuss, and a ton of baseball questions made their way in. So here we go. As always, I read the question and answer before reading Tom Boswell‘s response, and sometimes edit questions for clarity:

Q: I find it hard to imagine any starter of worth will sign with the Nats now that there are five rotation certainties in place. Will the Nats get the starter depth they desire?

A: There is definitely a class of starter out there who absolutely would take a minor league contract with a team like the Nats in order to rehabilitate their FA value, which may have been eroded due to injury or a bad season. Who would sign Erik Bedard (as an example) to anything guaranteed right now? Or Jonathan Sanchez? I would say though that more likely is the team acquiring guys on the minor league free agent market (where there’s 100s of guys available) and trading for farm system depth (I could envision both Michael Morse and Danny Espinosa being moved for prospect depth right now). Boswell didn’t really address this part of the question, instead focusing on the next question.

Q: Why did Rizzo non-tender Gorzelanny, who as the LHP long man could spot start? He has been effective at times, the non-tender now seems like a false economy.

A: Simple econonmics; despite Tom Gorzelanny‘s salary being miniscule in the grand scheme of things, they couldn’t tender him and risk getting an un-acceptable award in arbitration. I posted on the topic ahead of the non-tender deadline. I’m hopeful that Gorzelanny re-signs with the team at something close to his 2012 salary. But, that being said the bullpen looks awfully full right now and there might not be room for him. 5 returning RH relievers, new signing Zach Duke and only one spot left, likely being filled by Bill Bray in a pure LOOGY move. Boswell points out that Duke exactly replicates what Gorzelanny would have given us at a fraction of the price. Enough said.

Q: How do you like the Denard Span acquisition versus Philly’s acquisition of Ben Revere? Should the Nats have acquired Revere instead of Span? Do the Nats have an internal CF option after Span’s contract ends?

A: I posted my opinion on the Span deal here; quick analysis: liked the Denard Span deal but didn’t like that they made it. Now, if I compare the Span to the Revere deals, I can’t help but say that I think Philadelphia overpaid, badly. Trevor May was Philly’s #1 prospect in their system. May for Revere may have been a decent deal (akin to our own Alex Meyer for Span), but throwing in a servicable starter with 46 decent MLB starts under his belt was questionable. It isn’t like Ben Revere is the second coming of Joe DiMaggio; he had a 89 OPS+ last year in his third pro season. Great defense absolutely, but at what cost at the plate? At least Span profiles as a better-than-league-average hitter. The Span contract is for 2 years, by which time the Nats have a slew of potential replacements (in likely order Goodwin, Perez, Hood, Taylor), so yes there’s plenty of rising talent in the system at center. Boswell doubts the talent of Trevor May despite the consensus scouting opinion of the player, but he likes Worley and thinks the Phillies “took a flier on talent.” He does think Span > Revere though.

Q: Have the Nats done enough to their roster to win it all? Do they need another closer?

A: I believe the team has already done enough to re-qualify for the 2013 playoffs, especially in the NL East where Miami and the Mets are reeling, barring a slate of pitching injuries. I can make a legitimate argument (tease for a future post) that the WAR improvements expected from our existing players (Strasburg, Harper, a full season of Werth, etc), plus addition by subtraction for players who hurt us last year (Nady, DeRosa, Henry Rodriguez, etc) alone will result in a better team than 2012. Do we need another closer? No, but I think one more right handed option out of the pen could help. That being said, we don’t really have any 25-man room right now given the anticipated pen. I liked last year’s Brad Lidge signing as a way to get some bullpen help, but doubt the team will do it this year. As far as Drew Storen goes, he’s a top notch reliever and does not need to be replaced. But I could see the team flipping him or Tyler Clippard as they get more expensive. Boswell says the Los Angeles acquisitions change the game, and teams like the Nats may have to re-think their approaches.

Q: What do you think of the Shields trade? Who comes out ahead? Do the Rays have enough pitching to remain AL East contenders, even after trading their No 1 starter?

A: I believe Tampa Bay fleeced Kansas City; Shields was NOT their #1 starter (David PriceJeremy Hellickson) or honestly maybe not even their #3 (Matt Moore, at least on potential). So the Rays traded a mid-rotation starter who they wanted to move anyway, along with a long-man in Wade Davis for the best prospect in the minors right now (Wil Myers), the Royal’s #1 pitching prospect (Jake Odorizzi), another high-end pitching prospect (Mike Montgomery, a former highly regarded arm), and yet another minor league player. That is just frankly ridiculous. If you had told me the trade was simply Myers for both Shields and Davis, I could have squinted and understood. But the addition of the other prospects made this a complete heist for Tampa. You don’t trade the best prospect in the minor leagues for anything less than an ACE starter. Does Tampa have enough to remain AL east contenders? Absolutely yes; this was a trade of spare parts for Tampa (akin to the Nats trading Tyler Moore and Steve Lombardozzi for some other team’s two best prospects) and they didn’t give up anything that they weren’t already planning on replacing. Dayton Moore has gone all in on this move; if the Royals do not win the division in 2013, he’s out of a job. Boswell didn’t really offer an opinion, just saying that the Rays are still stocked and noting that the price in prospects was why the Nats stayed away. Disappointed not to read an opinion on the trade.

Q: Will Harper be hitting cleanup this year and, if so, what’s your thinking on this?

A: Answer: It depends. If the team does NOT re-sign Adam LaRoche, then they have precious little left-handed hitting in the lineup, and Harper will be forced to bat somewhere in the middle of the order. Cleanup may have to be the spot. If LaRoche does come back, then the team can spread out its lefty power and continue with a similar lineup to what they used last year (going Harper-Zimmerman-LaRoche-Werth for L-R-L-R). I certainly don’t think that someone like Harper will have any issues batting clean-up in the major leagues; one thing he’s never been accused of lacking is pride. Boswell agrees with the opinion here, and then talks about just how much respect Harper earned in his rookie season.

Q: Should I be worried about our pitching depth? Our pitching was remarkably healthy this year and if that doesn’t hold true, especially with questions about Haren’s health I am not sure we can assume that will hold true this season. Don’t we need another starter or two who could eat innings if needed?

A: Yes, we have a depth issue. Especially given that we’ve traded nearly an entire AAA team worth of rotation insurance in the last two off-seasons (Milone, Peacock, Meyer, Rosenbaum all traded away or lost to rule 5 in the last two off-seasons). But Dan Haren has been remarkably durable through his career, only missing 28 games in his entire career to injury. So lets temper the whole “Haren is fragile narrative.” He’s not; he just happened to have an injury in 2012. I’m assuming, until proven otherwise, that Haren will return to his previous form and throw 220 innings. Does this mean that we weren’t lucky in 2012 and should plan for someone to get hurt in the rotation? Absolutely. I believe this is why moving either Michael Morse or Danny Espinosa for starter depth is wise. Boswell reminds the reader about Duke’s starting capability and the team’s plans for Christian Garcia. There’s also Ryan Perry. And there’s also the slew of guys who won’t get MLB jobs but who aren’t ready to hang them up who will be there for the taking. You know, guys exactly like Duke was last year 2 days before the start of the season.

Q: Don’t you think that if LaRoche was going to re-sign that he would have by now? If he goes, have the Nat’s alienated Morse?

A: No; the baseball off-season moves slowly, and few moves happen before the Winter Meetings anyway. LaRoche is right on schedule for his negotiations. Now, the team’s overt coveting of LaRoche has to have Morse pissed. I would be; clearly the team is planning for your exit on a day to day basis in the open press. Which is a real shame, because I like Morse and don’t think he did anything to warrant being treated this way. Boswell somehow thinks that this whole dance is a compliment to Morse. I don’t get it.

Q: Rizzo has a 2 year offer on the table for LaRoche, and history says he’s not likely to budge. Moreover, with other options like Morse and Moore, there’s no reason for him to. If another team needed help at 1B and was willing to give LaRoche 3 years, wouldn’t they have done so already? You’ve said all along you see the Nats and LaRoche amicably parting ways. Still see it that way?

A: Rizzo can budge on his demands. Hey; at least it isn’t a four year deal that LaRoche is demanding. I think a 2year deal with a club option for a 3rd makes a lot of sense for the team. For the player, not so much. This is LaRoche’s last chance at the free agent bonanza; he has to get the biggest contract he can. The market for LaRoche won’t completely clear until Josh Hamilton signs. While they’re not apples-to-apples comparisons, they are both lefty power hitters. If a team that wanted Hamilton doesn’t get him, they can come looking for LaRoche to fit a middle of the order lefty bat. The team still needs and wants LaRoche for two main reasons; plus defense and lefty power. They’ll take a step backwards in both categories by going with Morse at first and Moore as first guy off the bench. At the beginning of the off-season I thought LaRoche was leaving, because he’d want (and get) a 4 year deal. Now I think he may be back. Boswell now thinks LaRoche may be back and the team may give a 3rd year.

Q: I realize that the life with LaRoche is much preferred by the Nats. However, do you think there will be much of drop off in the quality of Nats play? Even without him, I have no doubt that the Nats will still win their share of games and make the playoffs (assuming the starting rotation stays relatively healthy). All starters are strike out pitchers. Offensive production should be about eqaul (though not as balanced),and Morse/Moore will probably make a few more errors. I feel like moving Zimmerman to first in 2014 and have Rendon starting at third would be the ideal way to make sure the core stays in tact.

A: I mostly agree; we’ll live without LaRoche but will be righty-heavy. Morse is healthy and has shown 30 homer capabilities in the past; why wouldn’t he do that again in 2013? It is a contract year for him after all. Meanwhile. the “save first base for Ryan Zimmerman” plan is one I’m 100% for; we’re just waiting for Anthony Rendon to show up. Boswell cautions to temper expectations for Rendon, who hasn’t had an injury-free season in years.

Q: Why does Shane Victorino get a 3 year deal before Adam LaRoche?

A: Because the Red Sox made a rash, poor signing? The LaRoche market just hasn’t played out yet. Plus, filling a first baseman versus a corner outfielder is more risky for teams, so they do more due diligence. Boswell doesn’t like the Victorino deal. At all.

Q: Michael Young had the lowest WAR of ANY position player last year, do you really think he’s an upgrade for the Phillies? Personally, I can’t wait for those fans to start booing him 2 weeks into the season.

A: Yes, Michael Young looked pretty bad statistically last year. But i’m guessing that a change of scenery may help him. Texas has spent the past several seasons acquiring players to overtly replace Young; the year after he won a gold glove at short the team asked him to make way for Elvis Andrus and he moved to third. Then the team moved him off of third when they acquired Adrian Beltre. Then the team moved him to first … but then gave most of the starts at first to Mitch Moreland Maybe his 2012 was just pure disappointment in his treatment by the club where he’d played his entire career. I think though that at his age (36 next year) he’ll be lucky to be just replacement level. Boswell states the obvious; the Phillies are hoping for the 2011 version of Young, not the 2012 version.

Sporting News AL Comeback player of the Year: Prediction: Adam Dunn. Winner: Dunn. Note that there are now also MLB and Players Choice versions of this award, and they do not always agree with Sporting News’ picks. But SN is the oldest version so I’ll continue to guess based on it.

AL MVP: Cabrera wins over Trout; let the internet wars begin! The only thing that surprised me here was the relative landslide victory Cabrera had; he got 22 of the 28 first place votes, far more than I thought he’d get. This result shows what a lot of holier-than-thou bloggers need to wake up and understand; the MVP is NOT the award for the best player. Clearly these people (often rather rudely) do not understand the difference between stats-based analysis and context. Trout played for a 3rd place team; had he never played for the Angels this season … they still would have finished third. Like it or not, voters start their MVP lists by grabbing the best player on the playoff teams, and adjust accordingly. The solution to these arguments may be to create a hitting version of the Cy Young so that Trout can get his deserved due for his fantastic 2012 season.

AL Cy Young: Price wins in a very close race over Justin Verlander, who had almost identical (and slightly better) sabremetric numbers to his dominant Cy Young last year and was the odds-on favorite of the Sabr-nerd crowd to win. I predicted Dickey not because he was inarguably the better pitcher; I predicted he’d win because voters sometimes like to give these awards to the fresh new candidate, and I saw that happening here. Price and Verlander split the first and second place votes almost down the middle, except for one random first place vote that went to Fernando Rodney. The Rodney vote, combined with both Los Angeles voters giving 2nd place votes to Jered Weaver, is the margin of loss for Verlander. Still, this was the closest Cy Young voting race in the history of the award.

AL Manager: My first miss on BBWAA awards in three years. The criticism of this award is that it is less about who actually manages their team the best; it really is given to the team that “surprised” baseball pundits the most. In retrospect, for all the reasons I predicted Billy Beane would get the executive award I should have given more thought to Melvin winning the Manager award. Showalter’s Orioles certainly surprised, and you can squint and say that their record in one-run games is entirely on the manager. But there’s no mistaking that the Athletics out-played their potential far more distinctly than the Orioles did.

AL Executive: No surprise that Beane picks up this award, after flipping 3/5s of his rotation, signing the cuban defector Cespedes and getting Josh Reddick in trade, putting together a team that I thought could lose 110 games but instead won the AL West over two of the most bally-hoo’d teams in the majors. For all the people that chastised Beane for Moneyball, he has risen again after his early career success.

AL Comeback player: I really struggled to pick a winner, thinking that Dunn’s pseudo-rebound from 2011’s disaster was a good enough example, and I got lucky. SN picked Dunn while other AL comeback awards out there went to Fernando Rodney.

NL MVP: Posey takes this race in a landslide, getting 27 of the 32 first place votes. I’m really glad to see Braun get 2nd place despite the stigma surrounding his negated PED test last off-season; he won my “Modern Triple Crown” and was the best hitter in the league. Chase Headley gets deserved recognition and a 5th place vote. Several Nats got votes as expected, but none were factors in the race itself.

NL Cy Young: this race wasn’t as close as I thought it may be, but Dickey beats out Clayton Kershaw for many of the same reasons Price beat out Verlander. Our own Gio Gonzalez comes in a close third; as it turns out, one reporter in St Louis completely left him off his ballot, purportedly because Gonzalez didn’t broach 200 innings. Which makes no sense, since this same reporter gave his 5th place vote to a reliever. *sigh* I hate hypocrites

NL Rookie of the Year: Harper won a very close race over Wade Miley and for good reason; on September 1st you would have said that Miley was the easy RoY candidate. A strong finish combined with Harper’s narrative and probably some east-coast bias gave him the award. One writer completely left Miley off his ballot, but that wouldn’t have made a difference in the voting totals in the end. Another side note: have you ever even heard of the two Washington BBWAA chapter members?

NL Manager: Johnson picks up the “manager of the most surprising team” award relatively easily; there really weren’t any other contenders once Pittsburgh collapsed mid-season.

NL Executive: Rizzo’s Gio Gonzalez trade, Jackson signing and Harper call-up all led to a 17-game improvement and the major’s best record, earning him 2nd place in the overall executive award voting (to Beane) and thus the highest ranking NL executive.

NL Comeback player: Posey was really a no-brainer, and won the award as expected.

I’ll say this in conclusion; the Trout-Cabrera arguments were the most one-sided, rude and biased I’ve seen yet in the whole “new school” trend of baseball writing. Even more ridiculous than the Jack Morris antagonists. And I’m thankful that, after today, I won’t have to read one more “Why Trout is the MVP” article.

Mike Trout is a shoe-in for Rookie of the Year. Will he add AL MVP as well? Photo Gary Vasquez/US Presswire via espn.com

I’ve had a good string of predicting MLB’s major Post season awards in this space. In 2010 I went 8 for 8. In 2011 I again went 8-8 in predicting MLB’s awards, though I missed on predicting the unofficial Sporting News Executive and Comeback Player of the year. I don’t have much confidence in going 8-for-8 this year though; the AL MVP seems way too close to predict, and I have no idea how the Cy Young awards will go.

[Editor Note: I write this in phases over the course of the season, and finalized it in early October. After I wrote this piece some of the awards have already been announced; Sporting News announced Comeback Players of the Year last week. I’ll put up another post talking about my guesses and which awards I got right and wrong in another article once all awards are announced in November.]

Before reading on to my predictions on 2012’s winners, a statement to prevent arguments in the comments section. These are my guesses as to who will WIN the awards, not necessarily who DESERVES them. Invariably there’s a player who plays on a non-playoff or losing team but puts up fantastic numbers (Matt Kemp for the 2011 Dodgers, perhaps Mike Trout this year) who a number of loud pundits say “should” win the MVP. Well, the fact of the matter is that the current voter base absolutely takes into account the circumstances behind a player’s production, and places more value on batters who are in a pennant race. As do I. The MVP isn’t the “Best Overall Batter Award,” which would end a lot of these arguments (since, the Cy Young essentially is exactly the “Best Overall Pitcher Award” and thus is easier to predict); its the “Most Valuable Player” award, and I agree with many who believe that a guy hitting .370 for a last place team isn’t nearly as “valuable” as the guy who hits .320 and leads a team deep into a playoff race. It is what it is; if we want to change it perhaps the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA, whose awards these are) needs to add a category or clarify their requirements.

Secondly, when considering the Cy Young, invariably there’s one pitcher who puts up comparable numbers to another, but one plays in a weaker division so the same Sabr-focused pundits make their holier-than-thou proclamations about how the voter base failed in their picks. And their points are valid. But this is a prediction piece, not an opinion piece, and the fact of the matter is that current voters are still mostly old-school and put value on things like “Wins” and “ERA,” stats that most Sabr-nerds think are useless in evaluating a pitcher.

So keeping those two points in mind, Here’s my predictions for 2012:

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera. Despite the massive amount of internet baseball material devoted to talking about how great a season Mike Trout has had (mostly looking at his WAR values historically), I still see the voter base placing emphasis on three major points:

Cabrera plays for a playoff team, Trout does not. The fact that the Angels will finish with a better record than the Tigers, or that the Angels clearly played in a harder division? Immaterial to the old-school voter base.

Cabrara won the Triple Crown. And most Triple Crown winners throughout history also won the MVP. The fact that the triple crown is based on 3 relatively flawed statistics? Irrelevant to the narrative of the achievement itself. It remains an incredibly difficult achievement to accomplish in modern baseball’s era of specialized hitters (Ichiro for batting, Adam Dunn for homers) to hit for both average and power in the way that Cabrera consistently does. (Rob Neyerposted thoughts about this topic, quoting random people on the internet with various takes).

Cabrera had a monster finish, Trout did not. Cabrera’s OPS in the run-in months was over 1.000 each of July, August and September. Trout peaked in July but was merely above average in the closing months. Your finish matters (as we’ll see in the NL Rookie of the Year race discussed later on).

Opinions like USA Today’s Bob Nightengale‘s exemplify the bulk of the voter base right now. A few years ago the writers were smart enough to award Felix Hernandez a Cy Young with nearly a .500 record by recognizing more of the advanced metrics in play, but the Cy Young’s definition is a lot more specific than that of the MVP.

This is nothing against Trout; the Angels were 6-14 when he got called up and finished 89-73. That’s an 83-59 record with him, a .584 winning percentage that equates to 95 wins, which would have won the AL West. Trout was the undeniable MVP for me nearly all season. You hate to say it, but when the Angels faltered so did Trout’s MVP candidacy.

The rest of the ballot? Adrian Beltre and Robinson Cano get some typical “best player on best teams” votes. I’d give Josh Reddick some top-5 votes too.

AL Cy Young: David Price, by virtue of his 20 wins and league leading ERA, will squeak out the win over last year’s winnerJustin Verlander. The statistical crowd will point out that Verlander was just as dominant in 2012 as he was in 2011 (when he unanimously won), and that his significantly higher innings total and lead in Pitcher WAR should get him the award. However, as with the AL MVP you have to take into account the voter base. Price won 20 games, that he pitches in a tougher division, that he beat out Verlander for the ERA title. Plus, and I hate to say it, but Price is the “sexy pick,” the guy who hasn’t won before. Verlander is the known guy and sometimes you see voters being excited to vote for the new guy. Its kind of like the Oscars; sometimes an actor wins for a performance that wasn’t the best as a way to “give it to the new guy.” Certainly this contributed to Clayton Kershaw‘s victory in 2011 and we may see similar behaviors again. There might even be an east coast voter bias in play. Jered Weaver,Chris Sale, Jake Peavy, and Felix Hernandez all get some top-5 votes, possibly finishing in that order behind Price and Verlander.

AL Rookie of the Year: Mike Trout, in what should be an unanimous vote. He could (if the MVP vote goes the way many thinks it should) become only the 3rd player ever to win both the MVP and the RoY in the same year (Fred Lynn and Ichiro Suzuki being the others). In the conversation: Yu Darvish (who certainly did not have a BAD year, but drifted mid-season), Yoenis Cespedes (who would win it in most years), Matt Moore (my preseason guess; I’m still shocked he displayed virtually none of the dominance of the 2011 post-season during his 2012 season), Will Middlebrooks (who made Kevin Youklis expendible within just a couple of months of arrival), and amazingly Tommy Milone (who was nearly unhittable in his home stadium and continued his performance from the Nats in the end of 2011). A couple other names in the conversation: Scott Diamond and Jarrod Parker.

AL Mgr: Buck Showalter should get this this award for taking a team that should be a .500 ballclub based on pythagorean record and put them in the playoffs for the first time in a decade. I also think he wins because of east coast bias, since certainly what Bob Melvin and the Oakland A’s pulled off is nothing short of fantastic. Robin Ventura may have gotten some votes had the White Sox held on, but may be the 3rd place finisher.

(Unofficial “award”): AL GM: I almost hate to say it, but Billy Beane. The A’s were supposed to be awful this year, having traded away most of their starting rotation (as explained further in this Aug 2012 post here) and let most of their hitters walk. Instead they acquire a couple of good pieces from Washington, sign the exciting Cespedes to go with a few bottom-barrel FAs, and overcame a 13-game deficit to win the powerhouse AL West. A great story.

(Unofficial “award”): AL Comeback Player of the Year: It has to be Adam Dunn, right? How do you go from the lowest qualifying average in history to career highs in homers and not get votes. Jake Peavy may get some votes after two injury plagued seasons, but he was pretty decent last year and isn’t exactly coming out of nowhere like Ryan Vogelsong did last year.

Now for the National League:

NL MVP: Buster Posey‘s strong finish, combined with his team’s playoff run and his playing catcher gives him the nod over his competition here. For much of the season I thought this award was Andrew McCutchen‘s to lose, but his fade and Pittsburg’s relative collapse from their division-leading mid-season costs him the MVP. The rest of the ballot? Ryan Braun may be putting up MVP-esque numbers but the fall out from his off-season testing snafu will cost him votes (both in this race and for the rest of his career unfortunately). Johnny Molina getting some press too, for many of the same reasons as Posey. Joey Votto probably lost too much time to be really considered, but remains arguably the best hitter in the league.

NL Cy Young: R.A. Dickey was the mid-season choice, was challenged late but his 20th win combined with his fantastic ERA for a knuckleballer makes him the winner. Amazingly, Dickey has pitched most of the season with a torn abdominal muscle, making his season accomplishments even more impressive. Johnny Cueto makes a great case, leading the playoff-contending Reds, but he slightly sputtered down the stretch. Clayton Kershaw quietly had a fantastic year, leading the league in ERA, but as we saw with David Price above, I think the voters like to vote for the new guy. Kershaw got his Cy Young last year; this year is Dickey’s time. Other names in the top-5 mix: Matt Cain, Cole Hamels, Gio Gonzalez and perhaps even Jordan Zimmermann (who got some mid-season attention by virtue of his excellent July). I have a hard time giving the award to a reliever, but the numbers Aroldis Chapman and Craig Kimbrel are putting in as the closers of Cincinnati and Atlanta respectively may be enough to at least appear in the top-5. Lastly, the odd case of Kris Medlen; his WAR puts him in the top 10 despite only having 12 starts. Is this enough to give him some votes? Maybe some 5th place votes here and there. But look out in 2013.

NL Rookie of the Year: Bryce Harper, who won his 2nd rookie of the month in September, finished incredibly strong and took advantage of late-season fades from his two biggest competitors to win this award. The National media buzz on Harper/Trout was never greater than during the season’s last month, and while games in April count the same as in September, the lasting impression is made by he who finishes strongest. Wade Miley has a great case but I think falls short. Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier has had a great season and was beating Harper’s numbers across the board, but he sat once Scott Rolen came back and faded down the stretch. Milwaukee’s Norichika Aoki has had a nice season at age 30, coming over from Japan. I don’t think guys like this (or Darvish, or Ichiro Suzuki for that matter) should qualify as “rookies” but rules are rules. Anthony Rizzo, Wilin Rosario, Matt Carpenter, and Mike Fiers also put up good rookie numbers and may get some 5th place votes.

NL Mgr: Davey Johnson. Nobody had the Nats winning nearly 100 games. Had the Pirates not collapsed perhaps we’d be talking about Clint Hurdle. Don Mattingly had somewhat of a transitionary team playing great early, but the mid-season influx of high-priced talent, and their subsequent collapse costs him any support.

(unofficial award) NL GM: Mike Rizzo, pulling off the Gio Gonzalez trade, signing Jackson in a deal immediately lauded as a great move and quickly putting together a team that looks to be 15-20 games improved over 2011. We thought they’d be in the mid-80s in wins; who thought they could be pressing for 100??

(Unofficial “award”): NL Comeback Player of the Year: Buster Posey. He went from a season-ending injury to an MVP season. In other years Adam LaRoche may get some looks here, but not in the face of what Posey has been doing for San Francisco. Lastly I had Johan Santana on a short list for this award until he was lost for the season in the aftermath of his 134 pitch no-hitter on June 1st. At at point he was 3-2 but with a 2.38 ERA. He finished the season 6-9 with a 4.85 ERA and was shut down on August 17th. Are we sure that no-hitter was worth it?